Google announced
yesterday that it will be rolling out its affordable Chromebooks (in
the Acer, HP and Samsung models) to the following international markets:
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and The Netherlands. In
the U.S. market, Google will be expanding its Chromebook availability to
more than 1,000 Best Buy stores nationwide, doubling the number of
stores Chromebooks are presently sold in.
Samsung Chromebooks have been on the top of Amazon.com’s best-selling
laptop list for 140 days since it was first launched. The model sells
for $249.00—more than two-thirds cheaper than Apple’s best selling
Macbook Air notebooks—and can now be found in the new countries for
prices ranging from $250 to $400. You can check for prices in your own
country here.
Chromebooks are thin, lightweight notebooks with a browser-based
operating system, which uses Google Chrome and Google Drive as its main
applications. With Google Drive, users get access to online documents,
spreadsheets, presentations, and collaboration, and Google Chrome
provides most of everything else.
The Web focus, however, means that Chromebooks can’t run applications
like Microsoft Office, Skype, Photoshop, or anything that comes with an
installer. Chromebooks are designed to run online applications and
services, and you will mostly need a Wi-Fi or 3G connection to use the
computer at all. If you don’t have one, it’s possible to run Chrome with
limited access in offline mode, and access your Google Drive documents
offline as well. If you’re curious, you can read our full review on the
latest Samsung Chromebook Series 3.
What do you think of Chromebooks? Will you consider purchasing one?